Gonna pull the plug at the end of the year and need advice on 2 things... should I change current very conservative investments and would anyone else pull the plug in this situation?

I am 57, married (wife is 56), kids on their own, own condo in northeast and home in FL free and clear. Plan to work part time for a few more years. 50% of these earnings will go into Roth and after tax savings account which are pretty much depleted. No CC debt. Frugal lifestyle and would like to keep snowbirding as long as we can. Condo & house currently account for ~26% of expenses even though we don't have a mortgage. Plan on selling the condo at age 70.

Will have $750k in 401k at the end of the year if everything goes as planned. Have 75% in stable value fund at 6% and 25% in company stocks and mutual Funds which have so far earned ~10% this year. Will need to pull 4% ($30k)starting next year to fund expenses. Have aerospace pension and company pays $7,500 toward healthcare each year, which is my biggest worry due to the ~15.5% increase last year.

I know there probably isn't enough to go on here but I'd like to start the ball rolling to see if I'm making a big mistake.

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Hi, snowbird. You omitted a few facts, without which it is hard to advise: annual expenses and annual pension income--and when do you start collecting it. Also, will your wife have right of survivorship? Will your company pay $7500/year toward your health insurance forever, to age 65, or ? Will your wife inherit that (or half that)?

Since you plan to pull 4% ($30k) from your tax-deferred account even though you'll be working part-time, I assume you aren't collecting your pension immediately upon retirement. Good idea to pad the Roths and taxable savings by working part-time. You probably noticed that supporting two homes in retirement can be a financial challenge. You might find that it's cheaper to rent in one of the locations--I know several people who do that.

Have you tried plugging your numbers into FIRECalc on this web site?

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oops, clicked Post instead of Preview. About your investments...75% in a stable value fund while collecting a pension is an awful lot of fixed income, but you're the one who has to sleep at night in this scenario*

When you say "company stocks," do you mean stock in your own company or in a variety of companies? I would diversify out of company stock sooner rather than later, and hold no more than 5 or maybe 10% (if extremely bullish on company prospects) of my portfolio in company stock. I personally would hold 10-50% of equities in foreign companies (I currently have 20% of my total port, including fixed income, in foreign stock--another 5% more if you count the foreign portion of real assets--REITs and commodies. I have 25% plus another 5% in real assets in US stock.)

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You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need.

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